If anything, the long cycling journey covering 1,831 kilometers from HCMC to Hanoi organized in June, 2024 by Generali Vietnam mirrors the life insurer’s persistent commitment to accompanying the community over the years. This year’s cycling journey built upon previous years’ fund-raising programs for a continued goal: building a new school site for a poverty-stricken locality.
The 1,831-kilometer trans-Vietnam journey, a key part of the Global Challenge 2024 initiated by the global life insurer’s The Human Safety Net, kicked off in HCMC on June 6 with the participation of some 200 cyclists being employees, consultants and customers of Generali Vietnam, led by Nguyen Hai Nam, general agency director of the life insurer’s Gencasa Go Vap.
“For me, this trans-Vietnam journey is not merely an opportunity to spread the spirit of sportsmanship among my colleagues nationwide, but also a special occasion to connect the hearts of compassion to benefit children in the upland region,” said Nam upon the start of the journey, referring to the journey’s aim to raise funds for a new school site.
New kindergarten facilities in the offing
The cycling journey is aimed at raising VND550 million for building new classrooms at a kindergarten in Toong Village in Hung Loi Commune of Tuyen Quang Province’s Yen Son District.
The proceeds from the cycling journey, after being expended on building the new classrooms at the aforesaid kindergarten, will also be used for organizing summer classes to provide skills for students in Quang Tri, Dak Lak and Dien Bien provinces, where several schools have been constructed using the money raised by The Human Safety Net Vietnam over the years.
On March 13, 2024, Generali Vietnam in collaboration with the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) and the Quang Tri branch of the fund inaugurated new classrooms for Dong Dong school branch of Son Ca Kindergarten in Quang Tri Province’s Dakrong District, which was developed at a cost of VND500 million as proceeds raised from community activities by the life insurer in 2023.
To secure funds for the project, Generali Vietnam in June 2023 launched a physical exercise campaign titled “Sức khỏe trao Mình – Trường mới trao Em” (Health for ourselves, school for children) as part of the Global Challenge 2023 initiated by Generali Group’s The Human Safety Net. Within months, this community initiative has collected over VND500 million for the kindergarten.
The kindergarten’s branch was developed in Dong Dong Village, which is home to mostly people of the Bru and Van Kieu minority ethnic groups. Every day, over 70 children of between two and five years old did not have any standard classroom. They had to use an obsolete storehouse as a classroom on rainy days, and gathered in a roofed yard when weather permitted.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Dinh Tien Hai, director of the NFVC, said the fund was excited at the speed of construction to complete the kindergarten facility and hoped that “Generali Vietnam and the NFVC would continue to promote the partnership to bring about better care and education for children.”
Earlier, on September 29, 2023, Generali Vietnam and partners also marked the completion of a kitchen at Ban Mai Kindergarten in Xa Dung Commune of Dien Bien Province’s Dien Bien Dong District.
The kitchen was developed at a cost of over VND250 million extracted from the proceeds raised by the life insurer since early last year. Other auxiliary facilities were also installed for the kitchen, including a roofed quarter for dining, a water tank, and other utensils.
More community goals ahead
As the 1,831-kilometer trans-Vietnam journey wrapped up in Hanoi on June 16 after 10 days’ cycling, Luu Anh Tuan, director of The Human Safety Net Vietnam, said that the initiative is nearing the goal of raising VND550 million for the community projects, especially for building new school facilities to nurture underprivileged children’s dream.
Commenting on the journey and other community projects initiated by Generali Vietnam, Nguyen Phuong Anh, general director of the life insurer, remarked: “Our community strategy and plans reflect values that Generali Vietnam pursues on the sustainability journey to become the life-long friend of millions of families.”
She went on to say that the company would continue to work with partners like the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) and other non-government organizations for synergies to bring further values to the community, especially children.
Specifically, in 2024, the life insurer has pledged VND3 billion to finance activities conducted by the NFVC, having earlier this year jointly conducted community activities with the fund. For example, Generali Vietnam and the NFVC joined forces to organize a series of family-oriented gathering events in 10 provinces and cities across the country, attracting 3,000 parents and children. In this series, the life insurer also donated VND300 million worth of scholarships for outstanding students from difficult family backgrounds.
Apart from corporate social responsibility programs to benefit children, Generali Vietnam has also attended to other sustainability activities to support poor people.
Early this year, the company handed over 10,000 aloe saplings under the non-profit program TreeBank to the Raglai ethnic people in Ninh Thuan Province, part of a larger program to donate 50,000 saplings this year to help improve the poor people’s livelihood in the province. This donation aligns with the life insurer’s program to donate one sapling for each new insurance policy achieved.
A representative of Generali Vietnam said its community projects are always based on the values of sustainability and participatory development, and the active involvement of the community has mirrored the values that Generali Vietnam is pursuing and its method of rallying support from society for the good of the community.
This orientation is well mirrored in the 1,831-kilometer trans-Vietnam journey, when cyclists and the life insurer itself rallied strong support from among participants – be it the company’s employees, red-shirt volunteers or customers – and the community.
Luu Anh Tuan, director of The Human Safety Net Vietnam, remarked: “In each leg of the journey, all members got new energy from inspirational stories of the participants… This journey has been full of challenges, but it has opened up new positive things ahead.”
